1988 Australian referendum (Local Government)

1988 Australian Local Government referendum
A Proposed Law: To alter the Constitution to recognise local government.; ; Do you approve of this proposed alteration?
Outcome	Not carried, A majority "no" vote nationally and in all six states.
Results
	Results by federal electoral division
	Note: Saturation of colour denotes strength of vote

The Constitution Alteration (Local Government) Bill 1988,^[1] was an unsuccessful proposal to alter the Australian Constitution to recognise local government. It was put to voters for approval in a referendum held on 3 September 1988. The structure of the Constitution recognises government at federal and state levels, but makes no mention of local government.

The "no" campaign in 1988 argued that this change would undermine states' rights, i.e. that it would move – or make it possible to move – some power from state governments to local governments.

Question

A Proposed Law: To alter the Constitution to recognise local government.

Do you approve this proposed alteration? The proposal was to add a new provision to the Constitution as follows :^[2]

119A. Each State shall provide for the establishment and continuance of a system of local government, with local government bodies elected in accordance with the laws of the State and empowered to administer, and to make by-laws for, their respective areas in accordance with the laws of the State.

Results

Result ^[3]^[4]
State	Electoral roll	Ballots issued	For		Against		Informal
State	Electoral roll	Ballots issued	Vote	%	Vote	%	Informal
New South Wales	3,564,856	3,297,246	1,033,364	31.70	2,226,529	68.30	37,353
Victoria	2,697,096	2,491,183	882,020	36.06	1,563,957	63.94	45,206
Queensland	1,693,247	1,552,293	590,868	38.31	951,332	61.69	10,093
South Australia	937,974	873,511	256,421	29.85	602,499	70.15	14,591
Western Australia	926,636	845,209	247,830	29.76	584,863	70.24	12,516
Tasmania	302,324	282,785	76,707	27.50	202,214	72.50	3,864
Australian Capital Territory ^[5]	166,131	149,128	58,755	39.78	88,945	60.22	1,428
Northern Territory ^[5]	74,695	56,370	21,449	38.80	33,826	61.20	1,095
Total for Commonwealth	10,362,959	9,537,725	3,163,488	33.61	6,248,166	66.39	126,071
Results	Obtained a majority in no state and an overall minority of 2,335,741 votes. Not carried

Discussion

This was the second unsuccessful referendum on the subject of Local Government. The 1974 referendum on Local Government Bodies sought to allow the Commonwealth to grant financial assistance to local government bodies, and to borrow money on their behalf.^[3]

References

^ Constitution Alteration (Local Government) Bill 1988 (Cth)
^ "Notification of particulars of writs for referendums". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette Special. No. S212. 25 July 1988. p. 3. Retrieved 15 November 2019 – via Trove.
^ ^a ^b Handbook of the 44th Parliament (2014) "Part 5 - Referendums and Plebiscites - Referendum results". Parliamentary Library of Australia.
^ "Result of referendum with respect to Local Government". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. No. S324. 27 October 1988. p. 3. Retrieved 23 October 2021 – via Trove.
^ ^a ^b Following the 1977 referendum, votes cast in the territories count towards the national total, but are not counted toward any state total.

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See also: By-elections

Question

Results

Discussion

See also

References

Further reading